Charities

Two Devon-based rock and pop choirs have united to produce a single in a bid to raise money for charity.

90 singers from rock and pop choirs DyNaMix, based in Barnstaple, and the Exeter-based Rhythm of Life Choir recently travelled 300 miles to a studio in Swindon to record an original song, When We Stand Together. All proceeds of the single, written and produced by Choir Director Jax Gibbins, will be donated to Alzheimer’s Society.

The latest in Charities

An RSPCA inspector is set to trek to Everest Base Camp to raise funds for animals in need.

Marije Zwager, an inspector based in Exeter, will be taking part in the trek this September with a group of like-minded animal lovers to raise much-needed funds for the RSPCA.

Everyday Marije experiences first-hand the cruelty that is inflicted on innocent animals and the work the RSPCA does to prevent this. She says this is why she is pushing herself to the limit to raise funds to help even more animals.

Sight loss affects around 2 million people in the UK, a number which is on the rise. It is estimated that at least 180,000 of these people rarely leave their homes alone and struggle with feelings of isolation and depression.

Exeter-based charity WESC Foundation, which provides specialist services to support young people with visual impairment, has announced details of its 2019 Charity Golf Day. This year’s event – the fifth to be organised in partnership with ITEC, the South West’s leading Technology Managed Service Provider – will take place on Thursday 9th May 2019 at Exeter Golf and Country Club.

Intrepid Mi-space staff will be donning the lycra and getting on their bikes to take on the Football to Amsterdam challenge for the second year in a row to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer.

Team Mi-space will undertake the two-day, 145-mile bike ride from London to the Dutch capital from 7 to 9 June.

Last year the team raised an impressive £15,000 and for 2019 have set themselves the huge challenge of raising a whopping £50,000 for Prostate Cancer UK. They are well on their way to this target with more than £17,000 already pledged.

East Devon based HeadsUP Mental Health Awareness Ltd has received a grant from The National Lottery Community Fund. The grant will allow HeadsUP to deliver mental health awareness sessions in schools and youth groups across East Devon and Exeter.

The delivery of sessions has already started and securing The National Lottery Community Funding will allow HeadsUP to extend its programmes to benefit more young people in the area over the next 12 months.

Lorraine Ritchie, 59, from Exeter, will run the London Landmarks Half Marathon two months before her 60th birthday, raising funds for Bowel Cancer UK in memory of her mother and sister, who she lost to the disease within a year of each other.

After obtaining a place in the ballot, Lorraine has been joined by her daughter, niece, nephew and brother in law who will also be running for Bowel Cancer UK. Running has become a family endeavour, since entering a 10k race in support of Lorraine's sister Tina
three years ago, who was undergoing chemo at the time.

This year part of their annual support of hospices throughout the country. The Provincial Grand Master of Devonshire Rt. W. Bro. Ian Kingsbury can be seen presenting a certificate denoting the £1388 given on behalf of the Devonshire Freemasons and the Masonic Charitable Foundation to Julie Wakley, Inpatient Unit Team Leader accompanied by Cherry Bailey and Louise Beeken of Hospiscare’s Searle House Hospice in Exeter.

The Donkey Sanctuary has launched a special edition of the popular board game Monopoly. The international animal welfare charity celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and has worked with the makers of the popular property trading game to produce its own unique edition.

Hall & Woodhouse, the leading independent family-owned Dorset brewer, has raised £114,287 in aid of eight local air ambulance charities in the past year, including Devon Air Ambulance.

At the beginning of 2018, Hall & Woodhouse’s (H&W) team members voted to make the eight Air Ambulances their official charity partners until 2020. Through the partnership, Devon, Dorset and Somerset, Great Western, Hampshire and Isle of Wight, Kent Surrey Sussex, London, Thames Valley and Wiltshire Air Ambulance will receive support from the company.